My BNU Journey
My BNU Journey
As the year progressed, I gained more knowledge than I'd ever imagined. I'm confident that my next year and a half will be the best yet.
I had quit my full-time job at Butlins in January 2020 because I was going to Japan in April to study Japanese at a language school in Tokyo. Unfortunately, due to COVID Japan closed their doors, and I was no longer able to attend.
In May of 2020, I began working at my local Wetherspoons, and my best friend informed me that she had been accepted to university. This prompted my mind to wonder, "Why can't I get into university?" I've been a freelance photographer since I was 17 years old, photographing whatever I wanted. I've also photographed two family weddings and knew I wanted to pursue a career in photography.
I did not have the best grades and wondered if I would even be accepted into university, especially at the age of 22, so I started looking at universities that looked at portfolios in addition to grades.
I spent time choosing my options and applied to my top five and was very pleased to hear back and set up interviews for two of my choices. Nervous about my interviews, I chose my favourite images and put them on my website portfolio, I researched possible questions they might ask, and I applied for foundation because I had a feeling that because of my grades, I wouldn't be able to start first year right away.
I’ll be completely honest the BNU open day wasn’t completely smooth sailing as the system crashed, but I was impressed by the Assisting Course Leader Tracey Sherwood who personally emailed me to ask if we could have a phone call, which I agreed to. She sent me some documents outlining the course and what we would be learning for the next three years. After seeing my portfolio Tracey decided I wouldn’t have to do a Foundation and that I could start first year in the fall of 2020.
During an online interview with the school's head of school, she agreed that I wasn't a good fit for Foundation because I already had a photographic background. This was the point at which I decided on BNU as my university of choice. I was extremely proud of myself because I was the first person in my immediate family to attend university, and I never imagined I would be returning to school after 3 years.
My first year was more about figuring out where I fit in and learning all about photography from a different perspective; I hadn't written anything academically since 2017, and I was nervous about the theory modules we had to complete, but as the year progressed, I gained more knowledge than I'd ever imagined. I'm confident that my next year and a half will be the best yet.
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